


cāsuālis

by euxzuken, GlenKiyoko



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Angelic Lore, Band Fic, Fallen Angel, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Hot Mess Terushima Yuuji, How Do I Tag, I think?, Lots of alcohol, Love at First Sight, M/M, Magical Realism, Punk Band Vocalist Miya Atsumu, Strangers to Lovers, Urban Fantasy, chaotic energy, more sexy cars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27575942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euxzuken/pseuds/euxzuken, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlenKiyoko/pseuds/GlenKiyoko
Summary: Nothing of this world will sate me.Nothing apart from you.That’s why I run.In pursuit of freedom. In pursuit of you.They’ve been chasing me while I’ve been running after you, Miya Atsumu.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Kudos: 3





	cāsuālis

It hadn’t occurred to me yet.  
The desire to come and go as I pleased.  
The satisfaction of being someplace on my own accord.  
The insatiable hunger in pursuit of a personal purpose.

It hadn’t occurred to me until the day our eyes met.

The day I was affronted by wanting, and hoping.  
That was also the day freedom earned its place in my vocabulary.

But it was against the law -- against our law.  
It was against our very nature.

And each day since, my wanting has only grown deeper.  
The target on my back had gotten clearer.  
So I decided to run.

Nothing of this world will sate me.  
Nothing apart from you.  
That’s why I run.  
In pursuit of freedom. In pursuit of you. They’ve been chasing me while I’ve been running after you, Miya Atsumu.

_______________

**It was a slow evening, all things considered. Quiet, save for the sultry drawl of music that played overhead. The whiskey slips cooly past my lips, only to run hotly down my throat. Ushijima sits himself beside me.**

**“How was it?” I whisper against the lip of my glass before taking another sip.**

**Ushijima nods to the barkeep for his usual before answering.**

**“They were caught in transit. We must relocate before those guys get a chance to snitch.”**

**I stare at the bottom of my now-emptied glass.**

**These were the absolute** **_worst_ ** **predicaments we found ourselves in. Mainly because it meant I** **_had to_ ** **take action. Initially, I perhaps misunderstood freedom. Thinking that** **_freedom_ ** **implied the lack of responsibilities was rather** **daft** **of me, but I just didn’t want any more** **work** **.**

**Ushijima and I silently regard the situation while he starts on his drink. This wasn’t a** **new problem** **for us. It was an unavoidable consequence of having to** **_use_ ** **humans as part of our plans.**

**As we were both members of** **_Shadows_ ** **, we had to take responsibility for a band of other** **_fallen_ ** **ones who had to live, and find refuge among the humans.**

**Though once upon whatever existed before time, I was part of the** **_power_ ** **. I followed orders as one among the middle triad in the angelic hierarchy.**

**“Well then,” I mutter, pushing myself off the seat. “We best be on our way.” I nod at the barkeep, and he returns the gesture with a kind smile, taking note to add it to our tab.**

**We walk across the bar, eyeing the stretch of the skyline outside. Several unassuming gazes follow us to the coat check.**

**This place has been our safe haven ever since it’s opened its doors to us.**

**I would rather fall again than have any of the archangels find out about our** **_almost-_ ** **sanctuary.**

**It’s laughable, really.**

**Angels?**

**In need of a safe haven?**

**Who would’ve thought?**

**But then, angels would normally fly, unlike us** **_fallen_ ** **who were on the run.**

**“Leaving so soon, Ushijima-san?” the attendant inquires teasingly, ready with Ushijima’s burgundy suit jacket.**

**“Duty calls,” he states guilelessly, shrugging his coat on.**

**The attendant returns from a backroom with a garment bag in their arms.**

**“Here you are, Sakusa-san.” They clinch it onto the hook overhead, careful not to let it touch the ground.**

**I claim my coat, and sling it over my shoulder as Ushijima slips the attendant several bills.**

**Once in the lift, we stand side by side. He pushes a knuckle into the Lower Ground button, and we begin our descent. I watch myself adjust the pink knot at my throat in the steel door’s reflection. Neither of us say a word.**

**I’m sure we’re both thinking it, though. How we’ve got to outwit the archangels before they can get to us. My eyes settle on the numbers trickling at each floor passed.**

**“So. Which car?”**

**“Your favorite,” I catch his smirk in the reflection as he tells me: “The Veneno.” He tosses me the key.**

**Ushijima and I have several things in common.**

**The car-collecting hobby happens to be one of them.**

**Living on the run for years** **has been an apt excuse for our unreasonably priced purchases. But we built our lives around the principle that we might as well get our effort’s worth when it comes to affording ourselves little luxuries.**

**I’ve spent nearly a decade in hiding. I was sure to not let a single day go to waste. Once we -- the Shadows -- banded together, we managed to establish connections with several prestigious corporations, and some rather unostentatious organizations as well. We learned to live among the humans, and work with them enough to supply a stable life, and secure economy to sustain our small community.**

**There’s a tinny ping, and the elevator doors glide apart. Beyond, the parking lot is dark even under the fluorescents, and eerily silent. I spin the key by its hoop around my finger as we walk through the parkade sparsely filled with cars. Ushijima makes a call, informing whoever was on the other end about our undertaking.**

**We stop in front of the satin black Veneno. He’s still on the line.**

**“We will be there in no time,” he says, checking the** **_Vacheron Constantin_ ** **watch fastened onto his right wrist. “Give us an hour or two. Prepare the documents along with the seal.” He instructs.**

**The car unlocks with a beep. I lift the door, and drape my coat over the second seat, then I settle in. Busying myself with slipping on my** **Engelmüller gloves, and firing up the engine -- earning a nasty look from Ushijima which translates into a compliment for the car.**

**There’s a pause on Ushijima’s end of the conversation before he nods curtly, and pockets his phone. He rounds the silver convertible, and lets himself into the sleek Mustang.**

**“Ready for some** **_real Need for Speed_ ** **?” I waggle my eyebrows at him, smirking behind the black mask I’m putting on.**

**“You better floor it if you want to stand a chance,” he retorts with a chuckle still heard over the growling of two powerful engines.**

**We file out of the parking lot, and enter the streets, zipping our way through the city to get to Sengukuhara as quickly as we possibly can.**

**Given that the archangels got a hold of a few of our men, we did have a definite need for speed. We had to get rid of** **_everything_ ** **that linked us to them so they would never be traced back to us. Though we aren’t personally acquainted with these men, the scraps of information they hold might be salvaged as leads to the Shadows if we aren’t carefully thorough during the sweep.**

**This is what we do to survive.**

**We use these people as decoys, and puppet messengers.**

**This is how we live.**

**We twist, and turn our way out from the city’s twinkling stop lights, and finally make it out onto the open road. Further out, the artificial lights thin, and leave room for the stars to shine over the countryside. The vast ocean, painted silver by the moon’s spotlight never fails to dazzle me. The ocean breeze tousles my hair, and I shift the Veneno into sport mode, fully intent on leaving Ushijima in the dust. Or sand. Whichever.**

**Two hours of racing neck and neck, I manage to reach the gates of the mansion first. They roll open as we ride up to the main house, and we park our cars in front of the fountain.**

**One of the guards is quick to greet, and attend to us.**

**“Sir,” he addresses me, bowing low.**

**The full moon looming over the mountain is a sight to behold.**

**Mesmerizing, as always.**

**I quite missed it.**

**Through the massive wooden doors, there is a spacious receiving area, painted white, and adorned with chiefly sleek, black furniture. Save for the painting that took up the center wall of the room.**

**“Where is Terushima?” I ask one of our most trusted guards stationed at the door.**

**He rises from his bow before answering. “He’s in the training room, sir.”**

**I wave him off, and he bows again before returning to his post.**

**Ushijima and I walk further into the house. We part ways as he heads to the control center, and I to the training room.**

**In the months that I’ve been away, virtually nothing has changed here in our headquarters. It even smells the same.**

**“Finally here, eh?” I hear him before I see him.**

**Terushima is just outside of the training room wearing a** **_karate gi_ ** **, and an absolute shit-eating grin.**

**Terushima Yuuji.**

**Once an archangel, now the least likely to be associated with anything even remotely angelic.**

**He says he got bored, so he switched out keeping others in line for tempting them to give into their desires.**

**“** **_Risk a little_ ** **,” he’d tell them. “** **_Life’s a_ ** **game** **_, after all_ ** **,” was another one of his lines. “** **_If it’s all a gamble, why not bet on yourself?_ ** **” was his usual clincher.**

**“If you’d done your job** **_properly_ ** **, then I wouldn’t have needed to come in the first place.”**

 **“Hey, it wasn’t** **_my fault_ ** **. We made sure all was prepped, and** **_crystal clear_ ** **. Sunarin even double-checked before sending them out,” Terushima says defensively. “It is protocol, after all.”**

**“Where is Suna?”**

**“Control center,” he answers. “There have been some suspicious entries in our database. Maybe that’s why this trip flopped.”**

**This wasn’t a** **new problem** **for us, but not knowing if the archangels** **_or_ ** **other underground groups were involved with this case got me on edge.**

**We always needed to be thorough.**

**Always careful.**

**We have people to protect.**

**Terushima and I walk to the control center together as he goes on about his most recent conquests, but it’s in through one ear, and straight out the other since there were more urgent matters at hand. Terushima knows this, but he goes on anyway.**

**The walls of the control center are lined with multiple monitors. This room contained** **_all_ ** **the files of each of the** **_fallen_ ** **they’ve come in contact with. Complete with their angelic names, ranks, and current whereabouts. We provide them with new human identities -- important I.D.s, documents, backstories, and other necessities -- to begin life in human society.**

**If the archangels find these files, they would be able to trace every single last one of us.**

**A definite end to our indefinite freedom.**

**We’d be damned to hell.**

**Chained in burning darkness; detained until the final judgment.**

  
  


* * *

  
  


**“All done,” Suna declares, hitting** **_enter_ ** **with a flourish of finality. “Zero traces.”**

**“So where does it start?” I ask, looking over his shoulder at the screen.**

**“We ensured that the humans involved were put under the spell until they saw everything through, but,” He spins his seat to face us. “Unfortunately, one of them got in touch with an archangel. One of Kita Shinsuke’s men. That damn good bastard.”**

**“Him** **_again_ ** **?” Terushima blurts, exasperated.**

**“Yes.** **_Him_ ** **. Again.” Suna sounds just as exasperated. He spins back towards the screens, pulling up the files of those involved. “He’s good,** **_and_ ** **he knows just where to look. We’ve got to lie low for a while. Stay quiet; do nothing to catch their attention.”**

**I recall a case dating two years back. All our operations nearly got busted from just** ** _one_** **_fallen_** **who required a human vessel to exist beyond the astral plane. It was the Asahi family that took the brunt of that hit from Kita Shinsuke.**

**Unlike the four of us, other fallen angels who weren’t part of the angelic order had to inhabit** **_human vessels_ ** **in order to join society. However, there is still some form of due process that we uphold among angelkind. Like vampires who cannot cross thresholds without permission, our kind is forbidden from possessing humans without the person’s complete understanding, and consent.**

**Tedious, I know.**

**But necessary.**

**Unlike humans who have a chance at reincarnation, angels like us don’t have the privilege of second or third chances. We’re doomed to be reduced to nothing but ash after the final judgment. Or, if we’re lucky, we’d burn in hell throughout the rest of eternity.**

**The solution is simple though.**

**Primitive, even.**

**We needed to eliminate one of our fallen to keep the rest of our people safe.**

* * *

**Once all is wrapped up, and our security is ensured, Ushijima excuses himself from the room. Suna and I discuss plans to certify that this won’t happen ever again.**

**If Kita Shinsuke caught a whiff of our involvement here, we had to be vigilant, and smart with our next steps. Each risk has to be carefully calculated to guarantee our safety.**

**We cannot simply gamble with that archangel after us.**

**Not when there are hundreds of lives on the line.**

**I’ve already taken that risk one too many times before. Besides, we don’t want him thinking we’ve grown complacent or predictable.**

**I scan the monitors one last time. “Be sure to block everything** **_._ ** **We cannot use the same strategy** **_ever again_ ** **,” I tell Suna. “And cut all contact with those humans. Understood?”**

**He answers with a nod as he closes all the pulled up folders, and files, chewing on his cheek as he types in the shutdown security code.**

**Suna gets up on his feet allowing himself to stretch his arms overhead with a satisfied groan. He twists his torso, swinging his arms, and uses his momentum to smack Terushima upside his head.**

**“** **_Oi!_ ** **” Terushima gets up from his prone, and languid position, swiping a few folders off the desk his feet were on. He jabs at Suna, but the other man deflects, and spins out of his reach, landing a chop into Terushima’s side.**

**Terushima hunches over, but still manages to hold a hand up, as the other clutches his ribs. “I concede,” he says, admitting his quick defeat.**

**They were like cats.**

**Or children.**

**Whichever.**

**“Pick those up then,” Suna gestures to the scattered files that littered the floor. He glances up at the digital clock hung at the back of the room.**

**“** **_Ahhh_ ** **, now I need my coffee,” he sighs.**

 **Who the heck** **_needs_ ** **coffee past eleven P.M.?**

**He seems to read the confusion on my face, and those equable eyes of his meet mine. “** **_What?_ ** **I’ve got a gig at midnight. I can’t exactly play in my sleep.”**

**We file out of the room, and head to the bar counter by the living room. The glass wall allows us the view of the garden outside.**

**Suna rushes to Ushijima who’s picking something out from the shelves.**

**“Don’t drink that,” he interjects, snatching the expensive bottle from Ushijima’s hand to tuck it back into its rightful place.**

**“What?** **_Why?_ ** **I’ve got all I want to drink right here,” Ushijima counters.**

**Suna plops himself onto one of the barstools. “I’ve taken care of everything. As far as Kita Shinsuke is concerned, he can kiss my ass.** **_Also_ ** **, we’re all hitting the bar tonight. Anything you want is on me,” he says with a pompous smile. “Besides, this place isn’t like every other bar in the back city. It’s** **_huge_ ** **, and** **_terribly_ ** **exclusive. It’s a bit --”**

**“** **_Pretentious_ ** **,” Terushima quips with yet another shit-eating grin.**

**“Yeah, you guys’ll fit right in,” Suna chuckles.**

**He and Terushima look like they’re** **_dying_ ** **to bump fists.**

**They** **_are_ ** **children.**

**“It’s a luxe club in the middle of the forest by Fujiyama.** **_V.I.P.-only_ ** **type of place. Suna and I frequent there cuz his bandmate owns the place.”**

**“How far is it from here?” Ushijima asks.**

**“** **_Hmmmm._ ** **With your car?” Terushima makes a show of his calculation. “Ten minutes.** **_Max_ ** **.”**

 **“But with** **_your car_ ** **,” he spins to me. “I’d say six.”**

 **“** **_Sure_ ** **,” Ushijima hums. “Maybe if Sakusa didn’t drive like my** **_obāchan_ ** **.”**

 **He and Suna** **_actually_ ** **bump fists.**

**“Whatever.”**

**None of us even had grandmothers.**

* * *

  
  


**Terushima changes out of his** **_gi_ ** **into something more club-appropriate, and Suna rushes to grab a deep green corduroy jacket to throw over his ensemble.**

**Ushijima and I are discussing whether going out tonight was a good plan, considering our current predicament. Terushima interrupts with a wolf-whistle, trailing a finger along the spoiler of my Veneno.**

**“Hands off, Yuuji,” Suna warns.**

**“Let me ride with you, Sakusa,** **_please_ ** **,” Terushima pleads. “Just this once.”**

**After the** **_banzai_ ** **incident, I swore Terushima off as my passenger. Not that he remembers why.**

**That madcap binge he rampaged through was precisely the reason behind his eviction from the power. Apart from the mess he caused in** **_several_ ** **mahjong parlors,** **_and_ ** **underground casinos, Terushima** **_literally_ ** **drove humans to their death.**

**I witnessed the entire scene unravel from my post above, and was given no instruction to intervene. Terushima shifted the stolen Jeep to fifth, kicked the gas pedal down, sending their entire carpool through the metal barrier on the cliffside, straight into the blackened sea below.**

**“No.”**

**“But --”**

**“** **_No._ ** **”**

**Suna all but drags Terushima into their Audi Q7 just so we can get a move on.**

**We follow Suna and Terushima out to the streets, zipping at full speed down the mountain road. The only lights coming from the moon overhead, the occasional streetlight, and the headlights of our cars.**

**In under ten minutes, the Audi veers off into a nondescript lot, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. But upon passing through the thicket, I see over a dozen luxury vehicles -- sedans, roadsters, and bikes alike -- lined up outside this establishment that has mirrors for walls, and red light leaking out from the entrance.**

**A few ladies walk by, giggling, and chatting in hushed tones.**

**I take my time observing the perimeter, tugging my gloves off finger by finger.**

**Ushijima taps a knuckle thrice against my window, so I roll it down. He and the two others were already waiting outside.**

**“You go on ahead. I’ll follow,” I tell them.**

**Ushijima joins them at the entrance, and the two glance back at the car before they go inside. Truth be told, my mind had been reeling since we left headquarters. I’ve been jotting down each decision, mistake, and event over the last decade that led us to our current situation.**

**Then flipped it over, running through it the other way around.**

**But if there was anything I’d ever learned, it’s that** **_shit happens._ **

**Whether you like it or not.**

**I don’t trust that Kita Shinsuke and his little battalion won’t be on us within the next hour,** **_but_ ** **I do trust Suna Rintaro as much as I trust the sun to rise tomorrow.**

**Suna was the first of us to come down here after all.**

**It seems to be darker inside than it is outside, but it’s probably just the red lighting painting over the scene.**

**On one side of the room is the sleek, marble countertop lined with plush stools. Opposite are overstuffed leather couches, formed into little booths around low, glass tables. Deeper in a corner of the room is a small stage three steps high. It’s littered with wires, and equipment stands, and a brazen drumset.**

**Suna steps onto the platform to set up, and I spot Ushijima and Terushima tucked into a dingy corner across the stage.**

**I make my way across the room, hands stuffed into my pockets. I perch onto the couch beside Ushijima as he and Terushima sip on their drinks.**

**There’s already a glass of whiskey atop a square napkin set before me.**

**I’ve no intention of drinking any more since I had my fill back in the city, but the drink is a welcome prop for tonight.**

**I have to squint to scan through the crimson haze.**

**“Tendou Satori,” Terushima says, leaning over Ushijima. “The guy with red hair. He owns the place,” he’s pointing at the redhead tuning his guitar onstage.**

**The theme of the place starts to make more sense.**

**After skimming through the room a third time, my eyes flit back to the stage at whine of an amp getting plugged in.**

**There’s something reminiscent of a mirage in a desert that catches my eye.**

**He’s clad in black, save for the shock of blonde hair.**

**They seem to magnetize, and hold my gaze, and I find myself staring long enough to wonder what color his eyes could be.**

**I find out that they’re brown.**

**Big, brown, heavily-lidded, sleepy doe eyes pin me to my seat.**

**He** **_smirks at me._ **

**And it pisses me off.**

**Terushima’s pointing obscures my view, and that manages to piss me off even more.**

**“That blonde one is Miya Atsumu,” he says. “The other one with the same face is his twin, Osamu.” Ushijima swats Terushima’s arm out of his face.**

**The blonde on stage postures himself behind the mic, and launches straight into the first verse of** **_Panic! At The Disco_ ** **’s** **_King of the Clouds_ ** **.**

**A smooth guitar riff introduces the second verse, and the song is pieced together by the beat, and sticky basslines as it builds up.**

**But it’s that** **_voice_ ** **that overpowers it all while still holding everything together.**

* * *

  
  


**After their set, they step off the stage, the blonde, and the redhead relishing in the applause and hoots from the audience. Ushijima sets his unfinished drink down to join in on the cheering. Terushima’s squeezing past our legs, loudly whooping flattery to greet Suna, the drummer, and the guitarist.**

**“Well,” Suna starts. “How was it?”**

**I shrug. “It was horrid.” The mask over my mouth hides the smirk from the teasing.**

**The other blondie rejoins his band mid-conversation.**

**“You’re hurting my best bud’s feelings, Sakusa!” Terushima feigns offense, initiating a practiced handshake with the redhead before throwing an arm over his shoulder. “If you want him out, Tori, just say the word,” he says in a hushed tone, eyeing me with a feral sneer.**

**“I thought** **_I_ ** **was your bestie, Ji-ji,” this Atsumu character quips with a pathetic pout, then sets his sights on me. His pout morphs into the same cocky smirk he had onstage.**

 **“And I** **_know_ ** **my sound is** **_far_ ** **from horrid.”**

**The band files into the couch opposite ours. Terushima bumps his knee against mine to get me to move. Ushijima and I scoot over to make room, and suddenly I’ve got a front row seat to the shitshow that is Miya Atsumu.**

**His doe eyes peer up at me as he reaches for my untouched glass of bourbon. He holds my gaze, bringing the glass to his lips for a taste. His eyes flutter to the** **_chambre_ ** **whiskey when it first touches his lips, and the way his face crumbles at the taste is nothing short of amusing.**

**He looks at the drink like it’s just insulted his ancestors,** **_and_ ** **his hair.**

**“Not your type of liquor, huh?” I inquire.**

**He doesn’t seem to hear me, so I take my mask off, and tuck it into a pocket.**

**“Don’t you like it?” I ask again.**

**I splay my arms over the backrest of the settee, gesturing for a waiter to bring us a whole bottle of bourbon.**

**Now he’s looking at me like he’s just realized drinks can’t speak, and that** **_I_ ** **was the one who slandered his family, and his dye job.**

**“We can get you a cocktail, if you like,” I offer since the waiter’s just arrived with the fresh bottle, and new glasses too. “Would you prefer a margarita, or perhaps a sangria?”**

**He downs what’s left in his glass -- which was still more than half -- and fights back a grimace.**

**“Nah, this** **_really_ ** **hits the spot,” he scoffs, cracking the bottle open to pour himself a double.**

**From beside Suna, the twin looks over at him with a questioning look. “You sure about that, ‘Tsumu?”**

**He shoots his brother a look nastier than both glares I earned combined as he takes a spiteful drink.**

**A different server comes around with an iced bucket of beers, and a bottle of Ushijima’s favorite vodka.**

**“But ‘Tsumu, I ordered your favorite,” the redhead guitarist/owner-of-this-joint/** **_Tori_ ** **tells Atsumu, plucking out a cold bottle from the bucket.**

**“I’m expanding my palate, Ri-ri,” Atsumu clinks his glass against the bottle the redhead guitarist/owner-of-this-joint/** **_Tori_ ** **/** **_Ri-ri_ ** **is offering him. We both watch Atsumu throw back the bourbon in one thick gulp.**

**_Ri-ri_ ** **matches my gaze with a look of amusement that mirrors my own.**

**“** **_Kanpai_ ** **,” the redhead chuckles, popping the cap off the beer. He offers it to me.**

**I shake my head no, grab myself a glass, and hold it out to Atsumu who’s pouring himself** **_yet another_ ** **drink.**

**“You know,” I start, “you can drink it with ice to water down the taste if you don’t like it straight.”**

**“I like it straight,” he deadpans, pouring into my glass.**

**“Alright then,” I lean back against my seat, and raise my glass to him. “** **_Kanpai_ ** **.”**

**Suna -- ever the gentleman -- hurries through introductions, telling his bandmates that the four of us work together, and clarifying to us that Osamu is the better twin. Conversation flows freely, and I find myself sucked into a discussion between Ushijima, and Tendou, getting to know how this place came to be.**

**Across, Osamu's ordering a glass of water for Atsumu.**

**“I’ll kick your ass if you end up making an ass of yourself, ‘Tsumu,” Osamu warns his twin who responds by sticking his tongue out.**

**I can already tell that we’re in for an interesting night.**

* * *

  
  


**Ushijima, Suna, and Osamu end up computing for Ushijima’s ideal protein intake to match his rigorous training regime, since he told Osamu that he was in the “** **_bulking phase”_ ** **of his fitness plan.**

**Meanwhile, Tendou, and Terushima were up, pestering other guests. Tendou says it’s for P.R., but I’m sure Terushima has other things in mind.**

**I rest an ankle on my knee as I watch Atsumu chase down the remnants of his whiskey with a swig of beer. I’ve not once encountered a man who drank whiskey like it was juice. Not until tonight, at least. I’m sure he’d be flushed red by now even without the lighting.**

**As if summoned by the spirit of Kendrick Lamar, he’s up, and chucking his jacket at Osamu, and shimmying his way into the middle of the makeshift dance floor. I hear Osamu cuss under his breath as he cranes his neck in an attempt to track his brother down among the sea of bodies in the middle of the room.**

**From the other side of the room, I spot Terushima tugging Tendou into the crowd.**

**I polish off my drink, and set out to survey the scene.**

**There’s something to it that I never quite understood --** **_dancing,_ ** **that is. Sure, I understand the appeal of music, along with the need, and pleasure from physical exertion. Sport is one of the physical activities I myself enjoy and understand most. There are set objectives, and winning is always the goal. Socially, it builds morale, and sportsmanship among peers, and opponents alike. Professional dancing, in my opinion, transcends sport -- unlike its untrained, and more** **_casual_ ** **counterpart. I’ve always considered ballet to be art, even long before my descent. This, however, wasn’t art** **_at all_ ** **. Are they compelled to move by the music? The alcohol? I don’t recall this to be explicitly part of their breeding process. Maybe modernization has integrated it as some form of mating ritual.**

**But alas,** **_c’est la vie_ ** **, I suppose.**

**I observe the crowd from a distance, and I see Atsumu thoroughly enjoying himself as two ladies meshed their bodies against his. The cold from the glass I find myself leaning against seems to seep through the sleeve of my dress shirt, and the sensation is almost overwhelming in contrast to the rather** **_hellish_ ** **scene spread before me. A shiver traces itself up my spine, and I tense to suppress the shudder that threatens to overtake my body.**

**Terushima had once explained to me that I might be experiencing** **_sensory overload_ ** **from all the foreign stimuli I encounter. He mentioned it was also possible that our bodies aren’t yet completely accustomed to their earthly containment, and I can’t help but agree. I find this physical vessel to be much too fragile, sensitive, and** **_extremely_ ** **restricting.**

**But then again...** **_c’est la vie_ ** **.**

**“Would you care for a shot, sir?” a server offers, holding up a tray of shot glasses rimmed with salt, and lemon wedges. I refuse with a polite smile, and they turn to enter the fray.**

**Atsumu looks like he’s completely been overtaken by the music. He’s got his hands on someone’s hips, eyes shut, singing about Halle Berry, and hallelujahs until Terushima presses up against his behind. Blondie no. 2 whirls around, looking like he’s ready for a fight. Blondie no. 1 only snickers at Atsumu’s reaction, and Tendou taps him on the shoulder to offer him and Terushima tequila shots. The three of them raise their glasses to each other before throwing them back.**

**Then Terushima’s got a finger hooked into one of Atsumu’s belt loops, pulling his backside flush against his front. Tendou retaliates, grabbing ahold of Atsumu’s hip, spinning Blondie no. 2’s back to him.**

**Their** **_display of dominance_ ** **goes on for a while, and the rough exchange has Atsumu swaying on his feet. He falls against Tendou, and Terushima’s chortling cuts above the music.**

**Blondie no. 2, and the redhead barely managed it back to our booth without** **_almost_ ** **faceplanting. I follow from a safe distance behind.**

**Tendou peels Atsumu off of him, and the blondie collapses face first into Suna’s lap.**

**“Is--” Osamu reaches over to flick his twin’s forehead. “Is he still alive?” Suna asks with genuine concern in his voice.**

**“** **_Noshure_ ** **,” Tendou slurs, plopping himself down beside Ushijima who offers him a drink of his water.**

**“Pussy,” I mumble.**

**This seems to stir Atsumu from his near miss with death. “** **_Who’reyacallin’apushy?”_ ** **he garbles with his cheek smushed against Suna’s thigh.**

**“You.”**

**“** **_Am not!_ ** **”**

**“Prove it. One more round.” Ushijima fixes me with a glare that’s usually reserved for Terushima.**

**Atsumu pushes himself off Suna to sit upright, and I settle beside him.**

**“** **_‘Ll prove it t’ya_ ** **,” he insists with a cocksure smile. Then his head lolls back, and hits the back of the couch.**

**He’s gone. Just like that.**

**Suna, and Osamu have their phones out to secure their blackmail material. I turn to Ushijima, who’s surveying the damage: Currently, we were responsible for 1.) One missing Terushima, and 2.) Two unconscious humans who might both be susceptible to alcohol poisoning.**

**From my seat, I scan the room for any sign of Terushima.**

**Suna, and Osamu now have their cameras trained on Tendou who’s now snoozing on Ushijima’s shoulder.**

**There’s a heavy hand urgently tapping my thigh, then I turn to see Atsumu’s face right next to mine.**

**One second, he’s looking right at me through the mist of tears filling his sad, doe eyes. At the next count, I find myself wistful for the days when I needn’t breathe.**

**I hadn’t before considered the possibility of a sensation worse than** **_wet socks_ ** **, but** **_vomit in lap_ ** **surely takes the cake. No contest.**

**_Father, forgive me for I just might smack a bitch._ **

**I catch Atsumu’s head by his hair before he can land in the puddle of vomit he’s hurled into my lap.**

**I shove him back towards Suna, willing myself to keep my anger, and my drinks, down.**

**What in the** **_hell_ ** **is that** **_stench_ ** **?**

**“** **_Miya Atsumu_ ** **,” Osamu hisses, squeezing past Suna. “You disgusting drunk.”**

**“** **_‘mnotjrunk_ ** **,” Atsumu ripostes with** **_stuff_ ** **still sputtering from his mouth.**

**“Right. Famous last words,” Osamu shoots me a look that’s beyond apologetic, then he’s off lugging his brother away.**

**Ushijima rises from his seat, causing Tendou to slam headfirst into the couch. He sits up like nothing happened, and sees my...predicament.**

**“** **_Holy shit_ ** **.” He follows Ushijima out of the booth.**

**Suna is coddling me with paper towels, but the couch is shaking from his suppressed laughter.**

**Tendou returns with two of his staff to clean up the mess, and Ushijima comes up behind him with the overnight pack he keeps in his car for emergencies.**

**“Follow me,” Tendou - ever the** **_gracious_ ** **host - says to me. “I’ve got a room upstairs. You can get cleaned up there.”**

**I take the bag from Ushijima, and follow Tendou into the back of the bar, through a pristine kitchen that’s** **_immaculate_ ** **under the white fluorescents, up a flight of stairs, down a hall, and into a modest bedroom with an also immaculate bathroom.**

**“Hey - uh - Sakusa-san,” Tendou starts. He’s scratching the back of his head when I look at him. “I’m sorry ‘bout that.”**

**“Why?”**

**“It’s jus -- ‘Tsumu can be a bit much, y’know?”**

**“I don’t see how that’s your fault.”**

**He laughs a little. “Second-hand embarrassment, I guess?”**

**How awfully tedious it is to be human.**

* * *

**I hang my belt on a hook, and rid myself of my now-spoiled raiment, tossing them into the garbage bin. There’s an entire array of bath products available on the shelves -- boxed bars of soap included.**

**The hiss of the water does little to shroud the talking of tennis courts carried along by the bass thumping below.**

**The countertop feels brittle beneath my palms, and the pulsing in my jaw seems to manifest just a fraction of how** **_cross_ ** **I actually am.**

**For all my talk of shit happens/** **_c’est la vie_ ** **, the concept the phrases define is really just a lazy excuse for not seeking out resolve. Having existed for eons that seemed to have gone by in what now feels like a blink of an eye, that moment the fetor of** **_vomit_ ** **hit me had my entire existence flash before my eyes. In that single regretful moment, I found myself begging the question: “** **_Why me_ ** **?”**

**The purpose of this causality is yet to be known.**

**Much, much later. In** **_the grand scheme of things_ ** **.**

**But for now, shit happens --** **_c’est la vie_ ** **.**

**The mirror fogs over, obscuring me from myself.**

**I step into the tub, and polish off a fresh bar of soap into non-existence.**

**My companions now occupy a different booth now. Blondies 1 & 2 are slumped against each other on the couch, Ushijima, Suna, and Tendou are talking among themselves a few paces away, and Osamu looks like he’s ready to plead for his brother’s life.**

**I cut him off before he can begin, saying, “He should be able to apologize for himself.”**

**He suddenly looks even more distraught than he has all night.**

**Ushijima approaches me, and I hand him back his pack.**

**“Thank you.”**

**“Not a problem. Though It’s a good thing you saved your belt,” he regards the rather unflattering jeans that are only being clinched on by the alligator leather around my waist.**

**“Tendou asked if we could drive them home,” Suna butts in.**

**“Why should I?”**

**“‘Cuz,” he starts, but clearly has no answer.**

**“Would you let Terushima drive your car?” He thinks answering with a question gives him some kind of advantage from changing the angle. My gaze flits back to the two blondes on the couch. There’s a trail of saliva dripping from Atsumu’s mouth, and into Terushima’s hair.**

**“I’d rather perish.”**

* * *

**Tendou made us draw straws. That’s how I ended up with the shitshow-turned-trainwreck Miya Atsumu in my passenger’s seat.**

**I’d half-expected Ushijima to take Miya Atsumu in my stead, but he said it would be disrespecting the draw. He did, however, strongly imply that Suna would be absolutely dejected if he** **_lost_ ** **their frontman tonight. He also said that he quite enjoyed their music, too.**

**I admit that I did, as well.**

**I tail Suna who’s got Osamu giving him instructions to a village close to the foot of Fujiyama.**

**Along the way, Suna’s speed seems to wane, and accelerate to insane speeds at random increments. Maybe he was dozing off at the wheel...or maybe Terushima has rejoined the living.**

**Either way, this wasn’t good. A car crash -- whether from a sleeping Suna, or from Terushima blowing another gasket -- would lead to an investigation that could potentially lead back to us. Besides, we did give Tendou our word that the twins would get home safely.**

**I speed after the Audi. Atsumu’s head hits the headrest with a thump followed by a guttural groan.**

**“If you throw up, I’m throwing you out.”**

**He tucks half his face under my overcoat which he’s claimed as a blanket. He then sinks deeper into the seat, letting the seatbelt cradle his cheek.**

**Up ahead, I see Terushima halfway through the window -- shaking his hair in the wind.**

**His ode to the moon unheard amidst the growl of my engine.**

**He holds an arm out like he yearns to fly.**

  
  


**We make a veer off to the outskirts of the village that’s meager of establishments, and homes.**

**Terushima twists around, and points up to what seems to be a temple atop a stairway built into the side of a hill.**

**Suna leads us up a path that leads to a vacant lot at the side of the hill.**

**We pull up by another set of steps that’s shrouded by pine, and sakura trees. Stone lions stand on guard on either side of the stairway.**

**Terushima, and Osamu step out of the Audi, and Blondie no. 2’s duplicate approaches us.**

**I kill the engine with a push of a button.**

**I consider doing the same to the guy snoring in my car.**

**I step outside, and raise Atsumu’s door with a swipe at the key.**

**Osamu collects his barely-there brother, and joins me at the bottom of the steps. The top is a ways away from here, stone steps illuminated by garden lanterns.**

**“Can you do it?” I ask Osamu. “It’s quite a flight.”**

**“Well,” he huffs, hitching his twin up against him. “Nothin’ I haven’t done before.”**

**If I were him, Atsumu would’ve** **_accidentally_ ** **rolled down the steps on several occasions.**

**The others join us at the base of the steps; Suna actively nags at Terushima about how he could’ve lost his head from his little stunt on the ride over.**

**“Quit talkin’ my ear off, Taro,” Terushima gripes, then hides behind Ushijima. “Toshi, make him shut up.”**

**“You _were_ behaving rambunctiously,” Ushijima says emphatically.**

**Terushima asks what Suna, and Ushijima had clogged up their rears.**

**The rumbling of another engine fills the air, and an SF90 Stradale in classic Ferrari red pulls up behind us.**

**“Oh, Tendou’s here,” Suna notes. “Is he spending the night?”**

**“Guess so,” Osamu answers.**

**The engine fizzles out, and Osamu - along with his brother - leads the way.**

**The closer we reach the top, the more I feel the weight of familiarity. Perhaps it came from stepping foot consecrated grounds. Or it could just be the shift in altitude.**

**But Ushijima stops at a landing, and calls out to me as the others trudge on ahead.**

**“Something’s in the air,” he says, and we agree that it isn’t just Atsumu’s reek.**

**The undeniable thrum of power shrouded the temple, as the trees did. It isn’t unusual for shrines to have magical vestments for protection, but for it to radiate the same frequency as** **_multiple magic circles_ ** **is definitely odd.**

**Magic circles usually ward places where valuable relics, or spirits were kept.**

**This spell was powerful enough to seal off the lawless fugitives of the celestial kind.**

**We see the humans to the threshold of the temple.**

**Atsumu seems to gain some semblance of consciousness - just enough to bid us goodbye, and good night.**

**We hurry back to regroup at headquarters.**


End file.
